Watercolour Painter

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Exhibition in a phone box.

March 1, 2012

A while ago, the life drawing group I work with were offered an exhibition venue. As this was an old red telephone box we all had to draw small. My life drawings are usually very big so a new learning process began – working at postcard size means learning what Ronald Searle talked about, what to leave out. After a lot of trying, I found this meant using a very big point, a pen cut from a reed. So small work needs cruder tools. A vey fine point and a hard pencil can be used to draw the same pose for a whole day. Fine line allows lots of detail, but only a large drawing can take lots of detail and not look fussy. Similarly, painting needs the biggest brush you dare, and more paint than you think you can possibly use, so as to keep its intensity uniform.